Femme de cirque [Circus Woman]

Reference URL

Smith’s post-World War I work is often viewed as a self-indulgent exploration of the female form. His model, Vera Cunningham, for several years in the 1920s was also his lover and this relationship resulted in more sensuous paintings than his earlier Fitzroy Street nudes of around 1915-6. This work is characteristic of the style Smith is chiefly known for – richly coloured and luxurious with vibrant brush strokes. The composition is feminine and fluid, emphasised by the artist’s typical inclusion of material. The model is almost certainly Vera but in titling the work ‘Circus Woman’, Smith suggests a narrative, which is continued in her looking away from the artist. In the 1920s and 1930s Smith spent a considerable part of each year in France, hence the French titles of some of his works.

Composition

The arrangement of different elements in a work of art.

Composition

Details

Acc. No.GMA 758

MediumOil on canvas

Size116.80 x 81.30 cm

CreditPurchased 1960

Sir Matthew Smith (English, 1879 - 1959)

Smith was born in Halifax and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. From 1908 he spent a large amount of time in France, briefly attending Matisse's art school in Paris. Smith is chiefly known for his richly coloured, sensuous nudes and still lifes, but he also painted a number of portraits, mostly during his later years. When the Second World War broke out, Smith was forced to abandon his studio in the south of France, and early in the war his two sons were killed in action. Deeply depressed, he virtually stopped painting until 1944.